my wife bought herself a new helmet, never heard of the brand, but i'm only familiar with the more common brands. she got a Vcan V100 helmet, anyone heard of the brand? have any opinions reviews? let me know!
Did she buy online? That could be somewhat iffy. It's best to at least try it on first to see if it fits. Some helmets are better suited to different shaped heads. All in all the vcan doesn't look too bad, probably about as good as my cheap HJC helmet, but my daily ride is a Bell Zephyr, that way I can leave it on the bike and no one will steal it, been doing that the past 2 years and still not stolen. HJC though cheap is too flashy and will get stolen pretty quick if I just leave it on the handle bars.
that's a 50 dollar helmet. and it's not snell approved. i don't trust it.
She did get it online but after she tried some on in store. It looks good and she said it fits really well but I just wanna make sure it's a good helmet. It's not snell but she's not going to be riding with me very much at all and when she does it will be short slow rides. Where did you find the helmet for $50?
Quote from: jrains89 on March 31, 2009, 11:13:10 AM
that's a 50 dollar helmet. and it's not snell approved. i don't trust it.
Check out this helmet comparison done by Motorcyclist Magazine: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/index.html
Really interesting. The results were that as long as the helmet is DOT approved it will perform as good or
better than a SNELL helmet.
A few quotes from that article:
QuoteIn analyzing the accident-involved helmets, the Hurt researchers also addressed whether helmets certified to different standards actually performed differently in real crashes; that is, did a Snell-certified helmet work better at protecting a person in the real world than a plain old DOT-certified or equivalent helmet? The answer was no. In real street conditions, the DOT or equivalent helmets worked just as well as the Snell-certified helmets.
In the case of fatal accidents, there was one more important discovery in the Hurt Report: There were essentially no deaths to helmeted riders from head injuries alone.
Some people in the study, those involved in truly awful, bone-crushing, aorta-popping crashes, did sustain potentially fatal head injuries even though they were wearing helmets. The problem was that they also had, on average, three other injuries that would have killed them if the head injury hadn't.
In other words, a crash violent enough to overwhelm any decent helmet will usually destroy the rest of the body as well. Newman put this into perspective. "In most cases, bottoming [compressing a helmet's EPS completely] is not going to occur except in really violent accidents. And in these kind of cases, one might legitimately wonder whether there is anything you could do."
How many people were saved because their helmet was designed to a "higher" or "higher energy" standard than the DOT standard? As far as the Hurt researchers could ascertain, none.
QuoteIf you ask most head-impact scientists or the representatives of the European helmet manufacturers how they like the Snell M2000/M2005 standard, they will generally tell you it's unrealistic, based more on supposition than on science, and forces manufacturers to make helmets that are stiffer than they should be.
The only thing I don't like about DOT only helmets is that they are self-certified. In other words, nobody checking up behind the manufacturers to make sure they are really performing to standard.
I don't trust a Chinese DOT helmet. Can't trust those manufacturers to make toys correctly unless someone audits them, why trust them with your head.
I agree with the others. SNELL rated helmets are the only ones that are certified for racing, and that means the quality is there. There's no reason to skimp on a helmet. Not only is your noggin' pretty valuable, (for most people at least) SNELL rated helmets can be bought new for about $80 and up, and many nice full-face helmets are in the $129 area. I have two SNELL rated helmets that I bought used. One is downright spiffy, the other is in good shape, and both have clean padding as it's removable for washing. Both are vented. Paid $60 for one and $40 for the other.
You can pay $350-$1,000 for a SNELL helmet, but that's just bling. They all meet the same safety standard.
:2guns:cheap non-snell helmets and cheap non-O-ring chains
i just see it that you only have one body and one head.. so dont skimp when it comes to gear etc... if you come off and your wearing a cheap helmet then your more likely to come off with harsher injuries... it doesnt matter if your driving careful and slow and she isnt on the back very often, its the car thats doing 40mph to get through a red light or something and cleans you out. not trying to be negative its just how i think. i own a shoei raid II. cost me like £210. i only paid that much because i liked the snug fit of it and knowing shoei they last a long time as welll as protecting your head well in the case of anything happening.
The big difference, as I understand it, between snell and dot is the type of protection it is meant to provide. Snell helmets can withstand an impact better than dot. In that respect, it could potentially withstand multiple 'minor' impacts. For example, the normal dot helmet is garbage after one significant impact, whereas a snell helmet is more likely to provide consistent protection. Think about racing, a get-off is more likely on a track. If the rider's helmet hits the ground, are they expected to pit immediately and change it? No, they keep riding. That means that the rider may suffer multiple impacts (if they suck). Snell can hold up...dot isn't designed to.
In normal riding, DOT is perfectly fine. But, on a track...well, there's a reason most tracks require SNELL rated helmets.
That article has been blown way out of proportion, IMO. They talked a lot (and you can debate a lot of what they talked about, the Snell response giving a start), but even forgetting that, the data was just too shaky to believe. They tested two helmets, but reported only one number for each drop. Did they cherry-pick the numbers, consciously or unconsciously? There's no reason to believe they didn't. How noisy was the assay? Every assay has noise, and it might well be that the differences they saw between helmets didn't exist anymore when you took into consideration the differences between measurements on the same helmet. Heck, the differences between the right and left sides on a given helmet was often huge, and there is nothing to indicate that's a factor of the helmet rather than of their measurements (the difference between sides in the front was up to 50gs, which was about the range in the 'average' measurement across all helmets tested). To quote the Snell response, "The upshot is they seemed to have based their comparison on incomplete tests and drawn their conclusions from inconsequential differences."
I'll say one thing - if I were a shop owner, I'd stock up on Z1R helmets after that article came out. I wouldn't wear one, though.
I got rid of my Made in China helmets (Scorpion) once I realized they were Made in China. I'll trust Snell and BSI helmets, since they both have regular inspections and reasonably comparable testing procedures. I have an AGV these days.
Yeah, I strongly believe in not skimping on my head. I really really need my brain in perfect working condition. I picked a Shoei Rf-1000 for several reasons which I will gladly put up if we can get that gear area I've been talking about. See wouldn't this fit great in that area!
OKAY OKAY, my biggest concern was size I could not find a good helmet to fit my little head. I have a GPX 3/4 helmet and I felt like a bobble head. I wore it the other day on the bike when doing a test ride so I could see if I could hear the chain noise again. Oh my did it suck! Felt like the wind was going to rip my head off then it started lightly raining felt like somone was throwing darts at my face. I couldn't help but think my that would be a very big distraction at a time when distractions were really not wanted. I've never had these issues in my Shoei. Yup, it cost me $350 and has been well worth the comfort!
Mary
Roadstergal, be careful. When you read comparison test reports of various things these days and apply a little scientific understanding to it, it can make your head spin and your stomach flip. There are so many garbage reports out there it makes my right eye lid twitch. I'll end it here as I don't want to get into a global warming discussion!
If there is a seam down the middle of your helmet from the two halves molded together, rest assured your helmet is JUNK.
I refuse to wear Snell for street riding and will continue to do so until they revise their testing procedures. I look for BSI or ECE or just plain old DOT for a on-road helmet.
Here is the most thourough article I can find on the subject. Take what you want from it:
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/index.html (http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/index.html)
However, here is one excerpt among many that makes me to keep my head and anybody's I ride with out of a Snell, especially if it costs more $$$.
QuoteIf you ask most head-impact scientists or the representatives of the European helmet manufacturers how they like the Snell M2000/M2005 standard, they will generally tell you it's unrealistic, based more on supposition than on science, and forces manufacturers to make helmets that are stiffer than they should be.
The most important thing is that a real DOT approved helmet is worn, and more importantly some good gear. The intricacies of one standard vs another are never going to matter in anything but the most specific and violent crashes which are probably going to kill the rider in more ways than head injuries.
Interesting... if only someone had brought that article up earlier in the thread...